What is the battery life of the Canon 7D Mk 2- with GPS disabled?

[paulbartho]

I had a Canon 7D and its battery life was superb. The new Canon 7D Mk 2 I barely get 2 hours of intermittant shooting (GPS disabled).

Is this what I should expect or is there a fault with the camera?

[TTMartin]

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@paulbartho wrote:

I have seen others complaining about the battery life of the 7D Mk2 so I am not the only one. I just wonder if this is a camera issue with some cameras. Definitely I use the camera the same way as my old one and the battery life is pathetic by comparison. No Live View, no GPS, IS on. And I have the problem with my old batteries which worked brilliantly before. Must be a problem with the camera or other settings with which I am not familiar.

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I got the genuine Canon battery grip the same time I got the camera, so I can't speak for using the camera with only one battery. If the 7D Mk II drives the lenses AF faster like the 1DX, it could explain the difference in battery life.

Most complaints about the 7D Mk II battery life seem to be with the GPS on.

How old are your batteries?

I also have image review set to 8 seconds and auto power off set to 8 minutes, so those aren't set short either. Do you have anything displayed on the rear LCD when you aren't shooting?

[paulbartho]

Two of the batteries are new. One original 7D Mk 2 battery - new; one original 7d battery ( my old spare battery) and one 7D Mk 2 imitation which came new with the camera on promotion.

[Waddizzle]

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@paulbartho wrote:

Two of the batteries are new. One original 7D Mk 2 battery - new; one original 7d battery ( my old spare battery) and one 7D Mk 2 imitation which came new with the camera on promotion.

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There is one thing that is not clear.  Are the batteries running down when you use the camera?  Or, are they running down when the camera is idle, like overnight?

Canon batteries communicate with the camera.  They report status, even in a battery grip.  I have no idea what impact mixing a Canon battery with a 3rd party battery in a battery grip [which I assume is a Canon grip] might have. 

And, speaking of a battery grip, make sure that it is turned off.

[paulbartho]

The batteries run down in use and not overnight. I do not have a battery grip (I assume that is when you put 2 batteries in at once).

[Waddizzle]

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@paulbartho wrote:

The batteries run down in use and not overnight. I do not have a battery grip (I assume that is when you put 2 batteries in at once).

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I use a 7D2 without a grip, but with a genuine Canon battery. I have never run into issues shooting 300-400 shots with the EF 100-400mm lens.  I will still have 50%, or more battery, life at the end of the day.

I have both GPS disabled, and the compass disabled.  I don't think the compass words, anyhow, without GPS being enabled.  I have also disabled [my preference] hunting for focus when lens cannot focus. 

Be aware that technique and your lenses can affect battery performance.  Big lenses tend to draw more power.  On some lenses, the IS is active whenever the camera is "awake", which can contribute to shortened battery life.  Lots of focusing, and Live View can run down a battery.  You can try disabling the photo preview, too.  I have mine set for like four seconds, I think.

[bento2]

I too was troubled by reduced battery life in my 7D2 (GPS disabled) compared with my wife's 7D.

Read spmewhere that although disabled in the menu, the GPS actually looked for a signal at certyain intervals to reduce the wait time when GPS was enabled.

I now remove the batteries from the Canon battery grip when the camera is not in use (at the end of a shoot) and can confirm a noticeable increase in battery life.